Texting While Driving: Facts and Figures

Texting while driving is never a good idea. Distracted driving can lead you to take your eyes off the road for a few seconds, and a few seconds is all it takes for an accident to happen. Texting while driving is an especially bad form of distracted driving because it causes you to take your eyes off the road, your hands off the wheel, and take your mind off of driving. Here are some statistics from the FCC regarding the use of mobile devices while driving:

660,000 drivers are using their cell phones or texting at any given daylight moment across America. This number of drivers has held steady since 2010.

3,179 people died and 431,000 people were injured in 2014 in crashes involving distracted drivers.

Distracted driving can also affect people who aren’t even in a car. 520 non-occupants died in 2014 in distraction-affected crashes.

At 55 mph, the average text takes a driver’s eyes off the road about the length of a football field.

18% of injury crashes and 16% of all police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes were reported as distraction-affected crashes in 2014.

Students who frequently text while driving are twice as likely to ride with a driver who has been drinking.

10% of drivers aged 15 to 19 who were involved in fatal car accidents were reported as distracted at the time of the crashes.

In 2013, more than two out of five students who drove in the past 30 days sent a text or email while driving.